RCBS standard seating die . . .

If I lower the die in the press to move the case farther into the die does that provide a stronger crimp? Or am I just risking buckling the shoulder?

I'm annealing the necks and neck sizing fire formed brass (for Rem. 700 bolt action). Is the solution one of Sinclair's bushing dies, a Lee crimping die, or some other new toy I didn't know I needed?

Oh hey . . . This is the first forum I've found where the participants aren't a bunch of para-mil. crazies and they actually know something about their subject rather than just tossing off rabid hunches.

Thanks!

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PowderBurns Black Powder / Muzzle Loading Forum:

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In my experience, this depends on your overall case length as well as the individual dies you have. There are manufacturing tolerances that come into play here as well as the case length. As most reloading dies use a roll crimp, (Lee has a collet die that I find most satisfactory) you may have a problem with a case that is on the "high side" or that has been reloaded many times. If a case is on the "high side" or the dies are on the low side of the manufacturing tolerance, yes, you may buckle a case. The best thing to do is to trim all your cases to the minimum trim length, and set your dies to crimp as a seperate operation. While this is an extra step, it makes a higher quality round. you may also purchase a Lee collet crimp die which is much more forgiving of different case lengths from round to round. for an accurate rifle round you need to insure that all your crimps are as close to the others as you can make them. This means taking the extra step to insure that your crimp in uniform. Hope this helps.

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Surely we must all hang togather, for seprately we will surely all hang.

The standard RCBS seating die does not crimp. Personally I don't see a need to crimp, especially in a bolt gun. I shoot and AR15 in highpower and I have never crimped a single bullet and I have never had a single malfunction. Crimping is detrimental to accuracy. Unless your necks are all the same size and turned to the same thickness, you will have different crimp pressures and in turn different velocities.

I did not know that RCBS stopped putting a roll crimp shoulder in the top of their seating dies(???) - but then I wouldn't notice if they did.

I only crimp my 416 - and then I use a Lee factory (collet) crimp die.

I don't shoot my AR-15 all that much, but I don't crimp for it. Neither does my nephew who shoots NRA competion with his.

Don

Thanks, I'm shooting a Rem. 700 PSS and fire forming/neck sizing.

Just back from the range. No crimp shoots just fine with uniform brass/neck tension.

Now if I could just get that bullet out to the lands. Trimming 1.755" and trying to seat a Win. 55 gr. FMJ at 2.365" but can't get much more than 2.28" on this bullet.

Looking for a bullet with a longer body and no canalure. Maybe a 70 gr.

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PowderBurns Black Powder / Muzzle Loading Forum:

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A 70 gr. will probably do the trick--but, make sure that the twist rate in your rifle will handle it.

For a 55 grain, 1-12 is good. 1-9 or even 1-7 to 1-7.75 is better for the longer, heavier .224.

I made the mistake of buying some heavy bullets for my Swift. Wierdest thing I've ever seen at 50 yards--all keyholes, (!) but about a 1 inch group, believe it or not!! My Swift has a 1-14 twist, and loves 52 grain Sierra MatchKings.

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Happiness is a 200 yard bughole.

[This message has been edited by Powderman (edited 04-19-2001).]

My experience goes along with what Eric recommends. I note your other post. I do not think you usually need to crimp any rifle brass unless you have thin brass like possibly a .22 hornet for consistent neck tension, or a tube magazine i.e. .30-30, or as an experiment for some problem you are trying to sort out. So, I do not normally crimp bottle neck rifle brass and have no problems. You should be more suspicious of the brass than anything else such as the dies. Just generally speaking.

By the way, I use GI .223 brass all the time with excellent results. But I generally get it all from the same lot, once fired.

The key to good ammo manufacture is the same as bench rest shooting. Consistency. Seek it in all you do. Keep track of how many times each piece of brass is used, manufacturer, lot, times trimmed, etc. Keep it sorted that way. As it ages, brass goes bad. If you start having problems with a box of ammo, you can expect all the ammo made from the same brass group to have the same problems. Maybe that is when to aneal. Sometimes the right thing to do is trash the old stuff and buy new. If you mix your brass, old and new, you just loose control. You will most surely have inconsistency in accuracy etc. Keeping accurate records on how many times fired, last time full length sized, etc., is the best way to insure quality and consistency and home in on things that are puzzling you.

Hope this helps.